Monday, February 27, 2012

Some Soccer News for Mon Feb 27, 2012

Jozy Altidore had 2 goals on Sunday for AZ - see them both - ONE - and - TWO - courtesy of 101 Great Goals.

dN

A full slate of friendly International matches are on the card for Wednesday this week. See them all listed below in the appropriate section.

Three of those games are being played on US soil while the USA is in Italy:-Chile v Ghana in Chester PA - PPL Park-El Salvador v Estonia in Los Angeles CA - The Coliseum-Mexico v Colombia in Miami FL - Sun Life Stadium

dN

Huge congrats to Liverpool who won the English League Cup on Sunday.

dN

The French Super Cup will be played next summer at Red Bull Arena in Harrison NJ - Sat Jul 28 will see the winners of Ligue 1 take on the winners of the Coupe de la France. Cool.

TEAM USA

With players falling like leaves in Autumn the USA roster is down to 19 with 4 players gone and only 2 added.-Landon Donovan (bronchitis), Jermaine Jones (calf), Jose Torres (hamstring) and Timmy Chandler (hamstring) are all out of the team, while Brek Shea and Sacha Kljestan have been added.

Bob Bradley led his Egyptian national team in their second friendly under his leadership, and first since the tragedy, as they won 5-0 over Kenya at Al-Gharafa Stadium in Doha Qatar.-Match report by Ahmed Abd El Rasoul at Ahram.-Goals by Mohamed Salah, Ahmed Hassan, Ahmed Eid Abdel-Malek, Ahmed Khairi & Ahmed Abdel-Zaher.

BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

Matches & Scores:-Sat Jun 25Milan v Juventus - #1 v #2 in Serie A - a huuuuuge game!Lyon v PSG - a grudge match-Sun Feb 26Arsenal v Tottenham - when is the last time this North London derby had so much riding on it? Maybe never in the Premier League before?!Bayern v Schalke - #3 v #4 in the Bundesliga in the thick of a tight race.Rayo Vallecano v Real Madrid - a Madrid derby, and Valle are exactly the type of team to spoil Real's party.PSV v Feyenoord - long time rivalsAZ v Heerenveen - #2 v #3Galatasaray v Besiktas - one of the crazy Istanbul derbies

BELGIUM - Pro LeagueMikkel Diskerud - Gent - went the full 90 as they won 2-0 v Mons.Sacha Kljestan - Anderlecht - played the whole of a scoreless game at Lierse.

BELGIUM - Second DivisionTristan Bowen - Roeselare - came on as a sub in the 63rd min and they won 3-0 v Dender.

ENGLAND - Premier LeagueClint Dempsey - Fulham - went the distance and won 0-1 at QPR.Brad Friedel - Tottenham - played the whole game but lost 5-2 at Arsenal.Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - on the bench for a scoreless game at Wigan.Tim Ream - Bolton - played the full 90 but lost 3-0 at Chelsea.Zak Whitbread - Norwich - played the whole game but lost 1-2 v Manchester United.

ENGLAND - League OneAnton Peterlin - Wallsall - played the whole match as they drew 0-0 at Preston.Frank Simek - Carlisle United - played the entire game and they won 3-2 v Yeovil.

FRANCE - Ligue 1Charlie Davies - Sochaux - came on as a sub in the 79th min but they lost 2-0 v Toulouse.

GERMANY - BundesligaTimmy Chandler - Nurnberg - played the entire game and won 0-1 at Werder Bremen.Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played the whole game but lost 3-1 at Dortmund.Fabian Johnson - Hoffenheim - went the distance as they won 1-2 at Wolfsburg.Alfredo Morales - Hertha Berlin - came on as a sub in the 68th min getting a yellow card but losing 3-0 at Augsburg.Daniel Williams - Hoffenheim - played the full 90 getting a yellow card as they won 1-2 at Wolfsburg.David Yelldell - Bayer Leverkusen - on the bench as they won 0-2 at Koln.

GERMANY - 2 BundesligaMatt Taylor - Paderborn - came on as a sub in the 89th min as they won 4-2 v Entracht Frankfurt.

PORTUGAL - Liga de HonraCaleb Patterson-Sewell - Atletico CP - played the full 90 as they won 1-0 v Arouca.

SCOTLAND - Premier LeagueAlejandro Bedoya - Rangers - on the bench as they won 1-4 at Inverness.Carlos Bocanegra - Rangers - played the whole match as they won 1-4 at Inverness.Mo Edu - Rangers - went the distance as they won 1-4 at Inverness.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Herculez Gomez and Joe Corona both scored goals this weekend!

dN

Game Action:

PRIMERA DIVISIONDaMarcus Beasley - Puebla - started and played 62 min but lost 2-1 at Monterrey.Jonathan Bornstein - Tigres UANL - on the bench as they tied 1-1 at Pachuca.Edgar Castillo - Tijuana - went the distance as they tied 1-1 v Toluca.Joe Benny Corona - Tijuana - started and went 58 min scoring a goal as they drew 1-1 v Toluca.Herculez Gomez - Santos Laguna - came on at half time and scored a goal but they lost 2-1 at Guadalajara.Michael Orozco Fiscal - San Luis - on the bench as they lost 0-1 v Atlas.Jose Torres - Pachuca - went the full 90 but tied 1-1 v Tigres.

AMERICANS IN CENTRAL AMERICA:

Jeff Cunningham scored his third goal of the season for Comunicaciones in Guatemala.

Recap du Nord: Dortmund won to remain #1, but Gladbach could only manage a tie so they dropped back to 3rd place as Bayern won and re-lept them into the #2 position. Schalke lost to Bayern and fell off the pace a bit while remaining 4th.

A look at the title race in the other 5 top leagues of Europe (besides Germany):-Premier League is now a 2 team race: Man City(63) & Man U(61)-Serie A is mostly a 2 team race: Milan(51) & Juve(50), but Udinese(45) & Lazio(45) are just 5 points back-Primera Division is basically over: Real Madrid(64) leads by 10 points-Ligue 1 is pretty much a 2 team race: Montpellier(53) & PSG(52), 4 points back to Lille(46)-Eredivisie is a 6 teams race, where all are within 7 points of the top: PSV(48), AZ(46), Twente(45), Heerenveen(44), Ajax(43) & Feyenoord(41)

dN

Arsenal has loaned their Russian star Andre Arshavin back to the team they bought him from Zenit St Petersburg.

AFRICA

And we are right back African Cup of Nations Qualifying. Since the tournament is switching from even to odd years it will be played again next year (2013) so before they can qualify for Brazil they must get these games out of the way.

In the wake of West Ham player Ravel Morrison being fined 7000 Pounds for homophobic Twitter messages, the English FA has accused 3 more players of the same charge - Federico Macheda of QPR, Nile Ranger of Newcastle and Manny Smith of Walsall.